Eaux Opens Wednesday

Eaux (facebook, instagram) is scheduled to open this Wednesday May 23rd. It is located at 90 Exchange Street in the space formerly occupied by Crooners & Cocktails.

Chef/owner Evan Richarson will be serving a menu of “New Orleans and Southern inspired food…in a bistro setting” including Pork Belly Cracklin’, Chicken and Waffles and Gumbo Yaya.

Eaux will be open Wednesday through Monday, 11:30 am to 1 am.

Tandem x Drifters Brunch

Drifters Wife is teaming up with Briana Holt from Tandem for a special pop-up brunch this Sunday, noon – 3 at Drifters. Here’s a look at the menu:

  • Morning Bun with sumac
  • Cornmeal Coffee Cake with brown butter, rhubarb and streusel
  • Kale Salad with rhubarb vinaigrette and clothbound cheddar
  • Toast with ricotta, ramps and egg
  • Porchetta with dandelion greens, salsa verde and mayo
  • Buckwheat Waffles with hot sauce butter and chicken sausage

Chef Jason Daly on Chopped

Jason Daly, the former chef of Crooners and Cocktails, will be competing on an upcoming episode of the Food Networks show Chopped set to air on May 29th. The episode is titled Surf and Turf according to the Food Networks,

The chefs are asked to make a special-occasion meal, starting with appetizers that include a rare prized crustacean. In the entree basket, the competitors encounter more exquisite ingredients from land and sea — as well as a sweet curveball. And the final two chefs open the dessert basket to find a playful take on the theme that proves to be quite difficult.

This Week’s Events: Truffle Truck, Kermit Lynch, Street Eats and Beats, Lamb Jam

Tuesday – the Truffle Truck is holding their grand opening.

Wednesday – Old Port Wine Merchants is holding a Kermit Lynch wine tasting, and the Monument Square Winter Farmers’ Market is taking place.

Thursday – there will be a Mast Landing tap takeover at Bao Bao.

Saturday – the Street Eats and Beats food truck festival is taking place, as is the Deering Oaks Farmers’ Market.

Sunday – Chefs from Central Provisions, Emilitsa, The Honey Paw and Mami are participating in the 2018 Boston Lamb Jam.

For more information on these and other upcoming food happenings in the area, visit the event calendar.

If you are holding a food event this week that’s not listed above, publicize it by adding it as a comment to this post.

Under Construction: All Those Who Wander

A new coffee bar called All Those Who Wander (website, facebook, instagram) is under development at the corner of inner Washington and Marion Street. ATWW is one of several businesses located in the Black Box space including The Cheese Shop.

Owners John-Henry and Cynthia Mlyniec recently moved to Portland from Providence where they worked in the coffee industry. They will be sourcing their coffee for All Those Who Wander from Parlor Coffee in Brooklyn. The Mlyniecs hope to open sometime in June.

Reviews: BlueFin, Scratch Toast Bar

The Maine Sunday Telegram has reviewed the BlueFin, and

BlueFin, the seafood-themed restaurant in the Portland Harbor Hotel, is a head-scratcher, with prices that rival the area’s most expensive restaurants, yet little of the allure to justify them. It starts with spotty service, thanks to a front-of-house team who, apart from the lone server during dinner hours, all seem to be employed elsewhere in the hotel. Bartenders and piano players double as valets, front-desk staff double as hosts and bussers, lending the whole enterprise an ad-hoc feel. The menu is just as off-kilter, with a few genuinely enjoyable dishes – dressed lobster served in a custardy homemade popover, and creamy, egg-yolk-enriched lobster mashed potatoes – alongside a few dire ones, like a wet, underseasoned paella; a hazelnut panna cotta so firm you could drive across it served with a hot, salty waffle; and an acrid affogato made with cold espresso.

the Press Herald has reviewed Scratch Toast Bar.

The spreads I picked were a three-berry jam, Yummus (hummus with pureed carrots and other veggies) and an artichoke heart and spinach bake. The jam was like berry pie filling, so good you could eat it with a spoon. But it was also great on the cinnamon raisin nut bread. The Yummus was tangy and flavorful, and oddly, didn’t taste that much like carrots. The spinach and artichoke bake was creamy and rich. It was especially good on the airy miche, which was my favorite of the breads.